Decline of the GOP (pt 3)

With the recent switch in ranks of the Senator from Pennsylvania, Arlen Specter, to the Democratic side, the GOP once again faces its doomed influence within American centrist politics. One of the last few voices of clarity and moderation from the Republican minority in the Senate, Specter is also aligning himself with the political realities that he is up against. His party has diverted from its emphasis on strong defense, effective government, and individual rights. In order to remain politically viable, such a move reflects the notion that moderate Republicans have far less significant voice than once before in the Party. Long gone are the “Rockefeller Republicans,” of whose base was largely the Eastern Establishment- policymakers and Wall Street investment bankers/ lawyers. Although this political “elite” drew up much consternation in the public, they were able to effectively agree upon private and public lines of demarcation had been held as standard for the last half of the twentieth century. We have now moved to the unique position in that the old Democratic party that once represented labor interests, large government, and held a decidedly anti-big business credo, now represents a party more reminiscent of the Republican Party of Old. The professional classes have now in large numbers moved to the Democratic side in our previous presidential and congressional campaigns. If we have any chance of regaining the spirit that captured the Republican Party in its original days as when Lincoln held the highest office in the land, we must seek in every way to hold on to the few stalwarts, such as Arlen Specter, who manage to inject a refreshing tinge of decency, now and then. Away from the ideologically inflexible majorities in congress and in the Senate to a degree, we need leaders who will challenge, as did our current President, the status quo and work together to bring this great union to its best days ahead.